Each year, the International Home Care Nurses Organization (IHCNO) grants a monetary award to support promising research in home health nursing care. An international home health nurse review group selected the 2021 awardee-Dr. Cassandra Godzik at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth College, Centers for Health and Aging in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA. Her study, Sleep Environments in Home Healthcare Settings: Development of a Survey to Measure Environmental Factors Contributing to Sleep in the Home, builds on her prior work. Dr. Godzik will interview adults with an insomnia disorder who are enrolled in a telemedicine-based treatment group. The goal is to develop and validate a survey to identify the beneficial sleep environment for adults living at home so that interventions can be appropriately focused.
Other 2021 research award applications highlighted how the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic influenced clinical care and how nurse researchers are investigating the experience among patients. Remote patient monitoring, electronic interviews, and understanding the experience of the pandemic are becoming essential activities for clinicians and investigators. Below are two additional examples of studies.
Dr. Olivia Sanhueza-Alvarado and Bernardo Saldias-Alvear will study Experiences of people hospitalized by COVID-19 in public and private health centers within the framework of the Callista Roy Adaptation Model. Data will be collected through in-depth interviews by video call and photo-intervention after participants have returned home from the health centers. Data will be analyzed hermeneutically using atlas-ti software, and subsequently triangulated and exposed under the assumptions of the Callista Roy Adaptation Model. Bernardo Saldias-Alvear is a student and Dr. Sanhueza-Alvarado is a professor at the University of Concepcion, Concepcion, Chili. Dr. Sanhueza-Alvarado is also president of the Latinoamerican Association of Schools and Facilities of Nursing (Asociacion Latinoamericana de Escuelas y Facultades de Enfermeria, ALADEFE).
Christiana Gregoriou, PhD(c), MSc (Public Health), MSc (Midwifery), RM, RN, is a doctoral student at Open University of Cyprus and completed work at the Cyprus University of Technology. She plans a mixed method study with grounded theory, The Perceptions of Women Who Have Recently Given Birth as Regards the Need for Midwifery Care in the Community. The study will include interviews with new mothers, midwives, and health department representatives.
Researchers interested in applying for the 2022 IHCNO research award can find information about the application process at http://www.ihcno.org under the Research tab. The deadline for submission is September 30, 2021. Research priorities to guide proposal development are:
* Best clinical practices for home care patients and families,
* Patient- and person-centered care strategies,
* Technology to improve home care nursing practice,
* Practice models for the delivery of home care nursing services,
* Innovations to enhance home care patient/family outcomes and nursing practice,
* Education of home care nurses,
* Leadership in home care nursing,
* Other topics to advance home care patient/family outcomes and nursing practice.
Proposals are judged on significance to home health nursing, clinical relevance, and scientific merit of the research process.
To join the IHCNO network and receive emails about events and information related to home care nursing, go to http://www.ihcno.org, click the Join tab, and submit your email address. There is no cost associated with joining the international home care nursing network.